Unspoken by Sam Hayes

A secret is about to destroy a family in Sam Hayes’ breathtaking follow-up to BLOOD TIES…Mary Marshall would do anything for her daughter Julia. A devoted grandmother to Julia’s children, she’s always been the rock her family can rely on. Until now. Mary has a past Julia knows nothing about, and it’s come back to haunt her! Murray French is walking a tightrope. A solicitor struggling with an alcohol problem, he’s about to lose his wife Julia and his children to another man: someone successful, someone they deserve. Someone who’s everything he’s not. Can he ever get his family back?

Just when Julia Marshall thinks life is starting to turn around, she stumbles upon the brutalised body of a girl she teaches. And as the terrible present starts to shed light on her mother’s past, Julia realises her family’s nightmare is only just beginning…

For me, the allure of Sam’s previous book, Blood Ties, was that just when you thought you knew where the story was going, Sam spun it around, and presented you with something different. The same is true of this story, but in a much more subtle way. Although the bulk of the story evolved the way I felt it would, Sam still surprised me with the details, motives etc.

Blood Ties had some good characters, but the pull was in the fast paced story. Unspoken was also a ‘page turner’ for me, but more because I was interested in the characters, and wanted to follow their journey. Sam explores a family dealing with separation, a husband trying to survive alcoholism, as well as Mary’s secret past. In the midst of all this is Julia, trying to cope with her mother’s silence, her husband and the impending divorce, as well as her own children.

There are also some thought-provoking issues brought up, including part of the ending that I didn’t expect.

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